


Something Perfect

by mylittlecthulhu (marineko)



Series: Sakumiya Valentines [2]
Category: Arashi (Band), Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-18
Updated: 2012-04-18
Packaged: 2017-11-03 21:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/386261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marineko/pseuds/mylittlecthulhu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sho puts in a lot of effort towards the perfect White Day, but nothing ever really is perfect. Companion piece to "Something More".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Perfect

**Author's Note:**

  * For [all4cyanide](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=all4cyanide).



“Ninomiya’s out.”

The girl who answered his question didn’t even bother to look up at Sho as she did so. She was too busy typing up some kind of report, and obviously couldn’t spare a single moment away from it. 

“I see,” Sho replied, as politely as he could. “Thank you, anyway. I’ll just put this on his desk, then.”

‘This’ was an inconspicuous white envelope. In it was a red card, an invitation for a dinner at some fancy French restaurant – he couldn’t even pronounce the name, no matter how many times Jun had taught him. It was Jun who had recommended the place to him. He had gone over the menu several times, hoping to impress Nino later. 

He had screwed up Valentines’ day for both of them; now that it was White Day, he wanted things to be perfect.

})i({

The problem with ‘perfect’ was – he wasn’t. Sho knew very well that he was called ‘Mr. Perfect’ behind his back at the office, but he couldn’t think of anything that was further from the truth. If he had been ‘perfect’, for example, he wouldn’t have had to use up five different purchase order forms because he kept messing up his orders, and didn’t want to submit a form that had everything crossed over or re-written on. If he had been perfect, then he would be able to find a way to get Ohno-san to actually come to work on time, for once. If he had been perfect, he would have realized his feelings for Nino before it was almost too late. If he had been perfect, he wouldn’t have needed Jun to help him get Nino back.

Still, when he received an e-mail from Nino later in the day, telling him that Nino would wait in front of the restaurant, he felt like this time, ‘perfect’ might actually be something he could achieve.

})i({

Two of the girls in his office begged off early – one of them had a date, and the other mumbled an excuse that he couldn’t quite hear – and left a bit of extra work for him to finish before he could leave, himself. He didn’t think it was a big deal; it only took thirty extra minutes, and he wasn’t meeting Nino until much later. But then Aiba-chan from PR came over because he needed an extra guy for a goukon he was attending that night, and it took Sho a long time to get Aiba to accept the fact that he couldn’t go, and an even longer time to get Jun to go on his behalf.

He was already ready to leave himself, as he waved goodbye to Aiba, Jun, Ohno and Yokoyama. Once they were out of sight, he picked up his bag, and pulled open his drawer to take out the chocolates he had bought for Nino, to make up for the ones he had ruined, once. 

When he walked by the staff pantry, though, he paused.

He could hear the sound of someone crying – he tried to ignore it, telling himself that if he didn’t leave _right then_ he wouldn’t make it in time for dinner, but he couldn’t bring himself to take another step forward.

In the end, he sighed deeply, and turned to the pantry. 

It was Yamaguchi – Hana-chan, Sho remembered. Everyone in the office called her by first name. He had never really talked to her before. “Um, are you okay?” Now that he was there, he had no idea what he was supposed to do. 

She looked up, startled. Her face was streaked with tears, and she quickly brought up her hands to wipe at it. He caught the mix of expressions that ran through her – surprise, bafflement, like she was wondering why he was asking her such a stupid question, _of course_ , she wasn’t okay – and embarrassment. She sniffed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know anyone else was still around.”

“It’s all right,” he murmured, pulling the nearest chair and sitting down. “Is it anything I can help you with?”

“No, it’s nothing,” she insisted, but she was obviously still upset. “It’s just – my brother just called me, and he said that my dog…” she bit her lip, and looked like she was going to cry again. Sho understood. Just because he did, though, it didn’t mean that he knew how to help her.

“I’m sorry,” he said. She nodded, and gave him a wan smile. Then she looked at him, and asked, “didn’t you have somewhere to go today?”

“Why do you say that?”

“I heard you telling the boss that you need to leave on time, today,” she said. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop or anything; I just happened to be there.”

“I see.” Sho looked at his watch; he definitely was going to be late, but if he left right then, perhaps he wouldn’t be _too_ late. “You shouldn’t be alone, though.”

“I’ll be okay,” she assured him. Her smile was just a little brighter, then. “My personal problems aren’t yours, you know, Sakurai-san.”

“But still…” Sho trailed off as a thought hit him. “Hold on.” 

He got up, and walked out of the pantry, taking out his phone. It took him awhile to find the right name in his contacts.

Aiba picked up on the second ring.

“Sho-chan? Did you change your mind?” Aiba asked. Sho had to strain to hear him; Aiba seemed to be in a karaoke room. “I think you’re out of luck, one of the girls can’t make it, so we ended up with one guy extra…”

“No, that’s not it.” Sho explained about Hana-chan, and Aiba immediately offered to come to the office and cheer her up, as Sho thought he would. Aiba would go out of his way to make others feel better, always, and he probably better understood the feelings of attachment one might have towards a pet.

It took Aiba about fifteen minutes to get there – Sho also knew that Aiba always preferred to go to the nearest places when hanging out after work, because he had a long commute home and didn’t want to add to it. Sho met with him at the company lobby, telling him that Hana-chan was still inside.

“It’ll be fine,” Aiba told him, making shooing gestures. “I’ll take care of things. You said you were busy, didn’t you? So, go and get busy, then!” He grinned, and Sho remembered that he hadn’t even called Nino to say that he would be late.

})i({

He called five times. Nino ignored his calls five times. By the time he reached the restaurant, his reservation had been cancelled, and Nino was nowhere to be found.

Leaving the restaurant, he wandered aimlessly, not knowing what to do, except that he needed to talk to Nino. He didn’t really notice, or care, about where he was heading, and by the time he realized it, he found himself in front of a Lawson store - not any Lawson store, but the one that he used to go to with Nino in the evenings, back when they were just friends. Nino always liked going to that particular store because of the long bench by the entrance. 

He sat down, and took out his phone again. He stopped before pressing the call button, though, and decided to send an e-mail instead. He was still typing it out, cursing to himself with every typo, when Nino sat next to him.

“I hope you’re writing me a love letter,” Nino said. “Something nice, long, and very mushy.”

“I’m bad at mushy,” Sho confessed, putting away his phone. He didn’t look at Nino, and tried not to look too relieved that Nino was there.

“Just as well. I can’t imagine you writing odes about my beauty.” Sho snorted at that, and Nino smiled. “Aiba told me what happened, by the way.”

Sho was about to apologize, but felt that the words was quickly losing its meaning, because of the amount of things he had to apologize to Nino for. “I really wanted today to be perfect,” he said. “I wanted so badly to make things right again.”

“Idiot,” Nino said, but the affection was clear in his voice, so Sho didn’t mind. Nino looked at his watch, then, before saying, “I want ramen.”

Sho brightened at the thought of ramen, but frowned when he, too, looked at his watch. “It’s twelve.”

“So? The place we usually go to is open ‘til three, isn’t it?”

“No, I mean – white day is over.”

Nino sighed. “Sho. It doesn’t matter.”

“ _Yes, it does._ ” Sho’s frustration was clear in his voice. “I wanted to make up to – what I did – so badly.”

Standing up, Nino fidgeted, almost as if in embarrassment. “It doesn’t matter,” he said again. “If you want to know the truth, when I first saw that restaurant, I felt like running away. It’s kind of too much. It’s not _me_. I don’t think it’s really you, either, although it could probably be you if you wanted it to be. _This_ ,” Nino said, gesturing towards the Lawson behind them, “is me. Eating oden on this bench with you in the evenings after work, before going to my place, or yours, and just hanging out. I’m low maintenance, Sho. I’m pretty sure you know that.”

“But –” Sho was temporarily silenced by the look Nino gave him. When he continued, it was in a much quieter voice. “I wanted it to be special.”

“I think stuffing our faces with ramen and getting drunk is plenty special,” Nino replied. He grinned at the look Sho gave him, and held out a hand. “Let’s have a do-over. Be my Valentine?”

 _It’s the fifteenth of March_ , Sho wanted to say, but he saw the dare in Nino’s eyes, and he knew that Nino was just baiting him. So he took Nino’s hand instead.

They walked in silence the whole way, neither of them letting go. Before they entered, though, Sho paused.

“Are you sure you’re not just hungry and need someone to pay for your food?”

Nino laughed. “Sho, I’m very hungry.” He gave Sho’s hand a squeeze. “But I wanted you to be my Valentine last month, and I still want you to be my Valentine today, tomorrow, and all the way ‘til next year and the years after. Okay?”

“Who’s being mushy now?”

“One of these days something extremely revealing and embarrassing will happen to you in the office, and I won’t know anything about it.”

“Huh. I knew that you’re not going to let today go just like that.”

“Shut up.”

He was far from perfect, Sho thought, and neither was Nino. And his plans for their night out definitely hadn’t turned out perfectly, or turned out at all. But somehow, with Nino by his side, and a large bowl of ramen in his near future, he figured that life was pretty much perfect.


End file.
